Cell C said late on Thursday that it is up to date with all payments to MTN South Africa for its national roaming agreement.
In an e-mail in response to questions from TechCentral, Cell C said aspects of its roaming agreement with MTN were recently renegotiated and this had led to a reduction in the company’s roaming obligations.
MTN Group said in its interim financial statements, published on Thursday, that under modern international accounting standards known as IFRS 15, it has not recognised revenue amounting to R393-million for roaming services provided to Cell C for the six months ended 30 June 2019.
MTN Group chief financial officer Ralph Mupita said: “When you believe there is a possibility that when you invoice (someone) you might not be paid, you have to make that accounting judgment. The quantum was the R393-million…”
Mupita said Cell C made “some payments” to MTN following the end of the group’s interim reporting period. He elaborated in an interview on Thursday evening with Bruce Whitfield on Radio 702, saying Cell C had paid its May and June invoices for roaming after the end of the interim reporting period.
Cell C told TechCentral that it is “not able to comment on the financial accounting of these obligations by MTN”.
The financially stressed Cell C said earlier this week that it had finalised a term sheet with MTN with a view to crafting an expanded roaming agreement between the parties.
Cell C has been roaming on MTN’s network in areas where it doesn’t have coverage since October 2018 after it said it would terminate a similar arrangement with Vodacom. — (c) 2019 NewsCentral Media
